La resurrezione
‘It is the story of a contemporary family mourning the sudden loss of a child. The death of Jesus is not presented as a biblical and sacred event but as a human tragedy linked to the daily life of a family group, whose members react in different ways but with attitudes similar to those of the characters in the oratorio.’ This is how director Ilaria Lanzino describes her staging of George Friedric Handel's La resurrezione at the Basilica di Massenzio in the Roman Forum as part of the 2025 Caracalla Festival of Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.
Handel was in Rome in 1708 when he received a commission for a large sacred oratorio for Easter from Marquis Francesco Maria Marescotti Ruspoli, his patron at the time. La resurrezione was performed for the first time at Palazzo Bonelli ai Santissimi Apostoli on 8 April 1708, already in a staged form. The theme is highly symbolic: the action takes place between Good Friday and Easter, alternating between the clashes between Lucifer and the Angel and the profound meditations of Mary Magdalene, Mary of Cleophas and St John the Evangelist. It is a struggle between faith and its absence, between enthusiasm and cynicism in today's existence. Conductor George Petrou, specialist in the Baroque repertoire leads an excellent cast in Caracalla. Pisa-born Ilaria Lanzino makes her debut after much success abroad, notably as seen on OperaVision with productions from Germany and Poland. ‘In this journey in search of faith’, Lanzino concludes, ‘we attempt to answer this question: can faith save us from the pain of mourning and the loss of meaning in the face of death?’
CAST
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Angelo
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Sara Blanch
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Maddalena
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Ana Maria Labin
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Cleofe
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Teresa Iervolino
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San Giovanni
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Charles Workman
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Lucifero
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Giorgio Caoduro
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Orchestra
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Orchestra Nazionale Barocca dei Conservatori
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Music
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George Frideric Handel
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Text
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Carlo Sigismondo Capece
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Director
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Ilaria Lanzino
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Conductor
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George Petrou
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Set designer
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Dirk Becker
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Costume designer
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Annette Braun
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Light designer
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Marco Filibeck
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VIDEOS
Insights
Ilaria Lanzino on her staging of La resurrezione
It is the story of a contemporary family mourning the sudden loss of a child. The death of Jesus is therefore not presented as a biblical and sacred event, but as a human tragedy linked to the daily life of a family, whose members react in different ways but with attitudes similar to those of the characters in the oratorio. I created the figure of the father who, like Saint John in the original, embodies trust in the resurrection and therefore overcomes grief through faith; the mother, who like Mary Magdalene is overwhelmed by despair and without faith; and the grandmother, who like Cleophas is suspended between the two positions. I also wanted to question the rigid opposition between good and evil, which in the original work is schematically represented by the figures of the Angel and Lucifer. The latter, like Mary Magdalene, is a marginalised figure, full of pain and therefore a symbol of human fragility. In this way, I wanted to drastically break with the schematism of the original structure, which envisages a dogmatic separation between good and evil: the Angel, originally the preacher of Christ's word, has taken on almost totalitarian tones, professing an exclusionary and obtuse system, while Lucifer for me does not represent ‘evil’ at all, but rebellion against a system, that of the Angel, which in theory professes love for all but in practice condemns any voice that differs from the choir, rejecting other models of faith and love. My Resurrezione will prove the Angel wrong, and it will be above all for the rejected characters, Magdalene and Lucifer, that eternal love will find a place. In this journey in search of faith, we attempt to answer the question: is there a Resurrection? Can faith save us from the pain of mourning and the loss of meaning in the face of death?
Translated from Italian
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